Cameroonian Lv Bu: I love Cao Cao of ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’

Lv Bu is a Cameroonian student of Beijing Technology and Business University. [Photo by Wang Jieshi/Qianlong]

By Sun Chi

“We had 830,000 troops but were defeated by the 50,000-or-60,000-armies of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, why did it come to such an end? I guess after we gained too much battles recently, it was the time we deserved a loss. Loss has a lighter side, which teaches us how to win, how to conquer the world.” “We must neither make dizzy with success, nor discourage by failure.” This is what Cao Cao said in the drama of Three Kingdoms, and also the favorite words of Lv Bu. Lv Bu (Quentin) is a Cameroonian student now pursuing master’s degree in School of Economics, Beijing Technology and Business University.

It is his Chinese name of Lv Bu that makes him know and fall in love with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the philosophy behind it.

“For the first day on my arrival to China, a Chinese fellow came to meet me at the airport.

He asked me: ‘Do you get a Chinese name?’

I did have at the time, so I let him get me a name.

The friend of mine said: ‘Let me think about it.’

Then suddenly he said:’Lv Bu is what I will call you.’”

“I didn’t know Lv Bu well at the time, what I knew was it is the Chinese name of mine. In the first Chinese class, my teacher asked me for my name. I replied that my name is Lv Bu. Bizarrely she felt as she heard it, ‘Do you know who is Lv Bu?’” After the class, Lv Bu started to study his Chinese name via Baidu and learned that in China, a literature is entitled the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, where many figures are created, and Lv Bu is one of them. In order to figure out why he is named as Lv Bu, he inquired his friend, but did not get a direct answer. Instead, his friend help him to download the drama of Three Kingdoms. “The more I watch it, the stronger I love it. I’ve watched it through for eight times,” Lv Bu smiled.

By 2018, Lv Bu have studied and lived in Beijing for four years. For the time being, he is pursuing MIB master degree of international business in the Beijing Technology and Business University. His hometown is Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, where he went back once a year. Every time, he chose to return home in summer. “I feel it is a bit of wasting time if I went home in the winter, because, in the winter, I enjoy the Spring Festival atmosphere.” Lv Bu said, at 12 o’clock of Spring Festival Eve of the year when he first spent a Spring Festival in China, he heard intensive crackers outside and saw many people on the street. Now, he knows it is a practice of Chinese for blessing a new year. Lv Bu introduced, in Cameroon, similar festival is celebrated, but festival air is not as intensive as that in China. Here in China, “People gather for dinner and watch special TV shows for Spring Festival.” Although traditional festivals and customs are various between Cameroon and China, Lv Bu deems that respecting the elderly is a common virtue shared by the two countries. A Cameroon usually looks after his or her seniors personally and doesn’t send them to nursing home. “Both in Cameroon and China, there are people with tight work schedule, but they manage to make time for their parents.”

Lv Bu said, before he came to China, he thought every Chinese people can play Kungfu, but he found out it is not true after he came, “One thing could be understood only after you witness at the first place in person.”At first, the father of Lv Bu didn’t support his coming to China, but he had changed his mind due to Lv Bu’s insistence and the situation of his son in China that he saw. Every time before Lv Bu goes back to home, his farther will ask him to bring along some Chinese medicine plasters, “I heard that the Chinese medicine plasters are good, can you bring me some more, my colleagues also think they are pretty good.” Lv Bu himself sometimes also visits a Chinese doctor and receives acupuncture remedy.

“It is my personal decision to study in China,”Lv Bu said, his father wanted him to study in Belgium when he graduated from high school, but at the time, not a few Cameroonians saw the development of China, learned China is not a bad choice that benefits personal development. Lv Bu deems, “The future belongs to China. I want to come and study Chinese language and culture in China.” He hopes to set up a company that does business with enterprises of both China and Africa and help the development of his motherland. This is the reason that he chooses to study business management in the Beijing Technology and Business University. Lv Bu said, there are many construction projects in Cameroon which China takes part in, ranging from power station to football playground. In the past, most projects were given to the French, but now, Cameroon prefers to China, because the cooperation with Chinese is more fair in sharing benefit, the two sides are both happy. He deemed as the “Belt and Road” initiative was put forward, the trade between Cameroon and China will be improved, many Cameroonians will be able to buy Chinese products at doorsteps. And he hopes the “Belt and Road” initiative will also improve the infrastructure construction in Cameroon and other African countries.

West of Longzong Gate (Gate of Great Ancestors) outside the inner court of the Forbidden City...

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